Congressional Budget Process

Okay, it definitely doesn't rank up there in terms of excitement with some government actions, but this week the House is marking up the budget. This is the budget for the coming fiscal year that starts in October (the federal fiscal year is October to September just to be different) and this is just the first step in what is sure to be a long and contentious process. But I thought I would highlight a few resources that may make the time pass more quickly (or at least give you some interesting reading along the way):

• House Budget Committee This is where all the action is happening today. It has a nice (or depressing on your point of view) ticker with how big a share of the national debt we each have. You can also view the hearings online (high or low bandwidth). Down the sidebar you get a collection of links to the various documents.
  
• GOP Leader Blog Okay, this one is a little on the partisan side, but it is good to know exactly what those various sticking points are and as the minority party in the House the Republicans are working hard to get their message out.
• White House Budget This is the budget plan that President Bush sent to Congress that they are now working on. It contains a nice state-by-state summary of what the budget means to each state.
• Congressional Budget Office (CBO) The CBO writes reports on the budgetary impact of numerous actions by Congress and is a great place for non-partisan analysis of the various proposals.
• Debt and Budget Information You didn't think I would end this post without a link to the library's guide did you? This page links to a variety of additional sources of information. Have fun!